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Thursday, October 18, 2012

My Movie Biography: 2010 - The Year of Christopher Nolan

(2006, 2007, 2008, 2009) 2010 was such a messed up year. I'm not sure why, but I'm pretty sure I changed my personality about 5000 times, and everyone else changed 5000 times, too. After that year, I kinda swore not to let much bother me, and just take everything a little less seriously. It seems to be working out so far. Anyway, 2010 as it was in movies:

I went on my first actual plane ride! I went down to Christchurch, which as you know, was left devastated by two earthquakes which occurred late in 2010 and early in 2011. It was my absolute favourite place in New Zealand, mainly because of this DVD store they had there called "Alice in Videoland". Seriously, that place was magical. There were like, all of these themed room for the DVDs. Like, the horror/sci-fi room was all dark and scary. They had so many classic DVDs. The whole place was seriously like another world...kinda like how I imagine heaven. Plus, I'm pretty sure they had every DVD known to man. Yes, there's a huge difference between that DVD store and our DVD store. Unfortunately, it was damaged during the earthquake, but earlier this year it relocated and opened with an arthouse cinema. I'm definitely going down there as soon as I can afford it.

I saw Avatar. I'm sure that was supposed to be one of those life-changing things, but it really wasn't. I'm no Avatar hater, but I'm pretty sure I was more excited over this special Avatar cup I got at the cinemas. Sadly, that cup has disappeared.

Say what you want about The Hurt Locker, but Kathryn Bigelow winning that Oscar for Best Director actually changed my life. Up until that moment, I had always wanted to be an actress. But when Kathryn Bigelow won that award, I realised how few female directors there were. And I thought, "why do something everyone else is doing? Let's be a director!" I still hold on to that stupid dream now, but don't expect me to be the next Bigelow.

I did happen to win an Oscar that year. Okay, not a real one. I was a part of our school production and I won an "Oscar" for being the best performer in our group. Is this foreshadowing?

I saw An Education that year and I loved it to pieces. It kinda changed my life because Jenny is a lot like me. It is also a movie that makes me want to get up and do a lot of schoolwork. Which is what I should be doing now.

I once saw Up in the Air four times within a week. What can I say? I really loved that movie.

Pretty much all I really remember of 2010 was being obsessed with Christopher Nolan. I'm not sure where this suddenly sprung from, since I had only seen The Dark Knight at that point in time. I think it was because I was beyond excited for Inception. It actually scares me how I was so excited for that movie...not even The Dark Knight Rises came close in the anticipation stakes, mainly because I would watch all three trailers every day until I got to see it. In the lead up to Inception, I watched all of Nolan's films apart from Insomnia (which I got for my birthday, a month after I first saw Inception). I saw The Prestige but ended up getting really confused. I finally saw Batman Begins. I saw Memento on YouTube (in all honesty, I didn't really grasp onto it until the second time around and look, it is now my favourite movie). And yeah, I saw Following. That was interesting. Those were exciting times.

And yes, I did get to see Inception. Only July 22nd. I realise that my reaction to this movie was very stupid, but I can't help the fact that it was so awesome. Afterwards I was shaking and crying so much that I couldn't even hold onto a fry from Burger King. The day after, my friend and I drew up diagrams of it in maths on the whiteboard instead of doing work. There were some parts we didn't get. So yes, I went and saw it again three days later. And then I decided that I'd take everyone to see it on my birthday (I paid for their tickets, too, which was $80 all up...on my birthday). If there is one movie that I'd choose to see for the first time again, it would be this one. I just want that experience again. I also bought the screenplay for no particular reason, but it was very pretty.

Uhhhhh...I literally became the last person in NZ to see Boy, which is like our most popular film ever. Okay, I wasn't the last one. But everyone went to see it in cinemas, and I was too busy watching Inception three times (someone commented on how weird that was). I just caught it on DVD, and I was literally pressurised by everyone to give it a 10/10 rating in the paper. Yes, I liked it, but it is more of an 8/10 movie for me now.

Tuesday Movie Nights became a thing! In 2009 I was already getting movies out every Tuesday, but they were only the ones I really wanted to see. In 2010, I just decided to go all out. I remember my first three movie night - with Brothers, The Box and A Single Man. I only really loved A Single Man. I loved it so much that I bought it full price on DVD (it wasn't cheap), and I felt so swagtastic because I was this 15 year old girl walking around holding this arty film about suicide. I don't know why I think I'm so different and cool.

I saw Kick-Ass and it was like, the funniest thing I'd ever seen. It still kinda is. Mark Strong for life.

I had the hugest obsession ever with Cillian Murphy. How could you not? His eyes are like the most perfect crystal blue oceans. I saw the large majority of his movies, and I still haven't recovered from seeing him with a pen in his throat in Red Eye. That was kinda...strange.

I had a phase with Facebook. Not with using the site, but the making of it. I think this was because The Social Network was coming out and I was so confused by the fact that David Fincher was making a movie about Facebook with the guy from Zombieland in it. So I read this book called The Accidental Billionaires, and that made me extra interested in the making of Facebook. Then I did a speech about it, which won me my first speech prize. Good times. Of course, I saw The Social Network. For the life of me, I can't choose between that movie or Inception in deciding what was the best movie of 2010.

I dressed up as Eli from Let the Right One In for Halloween. It was actually the easiest and most effective Halloween costume ever. Seriously, all I needed to do was get a white shirt and some red face paint and just drip it everywhere. So easy.

As for school, everything was coming to an end (again) because this was my last non-NCEA year (apart from the fact I was in an advanced maths class which meant I was doing NCEA papers). As a year ten, I got to go on camp, where we went down to the Abel Tasman National Park (basically a crapload of beaches) and it was so fun. Seriously the highlight of my school career. Then at prizegiving, I managed to top three classes: English, which I have topped for the past three years; Social Studies, which I wasn't quite expecting; and Art, which was awkward because I wasn't taking the class in 2011. I am taking it again this year (the photography course), and it is exciting because I'm headed for a Merit with my portfolio. Maybe art is my thing.

As for the blog, it started becoming popular. Like, people were commenting. I was featured on links posts. It was so exciting. The funniest thing was when I was on an episode of the LAMBcast. I decided I may as well give it a go, despite the fact that I had no headset and I was very new to the concept of podcasting. I think the other podcasters were Dylan, Nick, Steve, Kai and Ryan, and I talked about Cemetery Junction. It was funny because they had no idea how old I was, and when I just casually mentioned that I started my blog when I was 14, they were all just like "WTF?" Okay, those weren't their words but the atmosphere got a little funny after that. I didn't actually realise until then that it was pretty unnatural to have a blog at my age.

I spent my New Years Eve watching Inception and trying to make it finish right on 12am. Because I'm the coolest person I know.

Man, 2010 was not that interesting. Have you ever been abnormally excited for a movie? What's your favourite Nicolas Cage hairstyle?

12 comments:

I remember 2010 for my The Social Network obsession (which is still going strong 2 years on). Seriously, I will never go crazy over a film like that again. What else- it was my final year of school. I became the worst prefect in its history and didn't care. Blah blah blah

2010 seems like an awesome year. Not only did these awesome movies appear (An Education is actually a gem that I keep forgetting) but I also started my blog. O.M.G - I'm reaching closer to three years. Oh the blog-birthdays, some wait for it, some fear it - just like regular birthdays.